"This is California, we're going into the sea."
1937 California Earthquake Dream

At the beginning of the article Soul Sicarios, I mention the idea of dismissiveness.  The article took an immediate left turn into uncharted territory, but it was originally inspired by the idea that dismissive people are in fact dismissing themselves.  Which is to say, they will be dismissed.  As in, from redemption.  The working title of Soul Sicarios was You Are Not Dismissed.  The article was originally intended to encourage people who are tired of being disregarded, to neither compromise with the dismissive spirit, nor let it discourage you.  Since it took a left turn into something else, I'd like to take this opportunity to make the point again.

You are not dismissed.

The double meaning of the phrase "you are not dismissed" is floating like a buoy in the floodwaters of self-righteousness and denial in which the entire world seems intent on drowning.  To the people who are sounding the alarm, "you are not dismissed" is an encouraging phrase.  It means that you will be validated soon enough (whether you want your warning to manifest, or not.  People who take no pleasure in being right are wiser than people who revel in being wrong).

For those intent on ignoring the warning, "you are not dismissed" is an order issued by the teacher in the front of the room, telling you to stay seated.  You don't get to leave the classroom just because you don't like the subject.  You have to stay in your seats until the bell rings (or the trumpet sounds), indicating that class is over.  Though you may find that it isn't recess waiting for you, just outside the door.  It isn't playgrounds and games on the other side of the cozy confines of the classroom.  It might, in fact, be hell to pay.

You are not dismissed.

To the cynics, it is worth saying that the existence of the warning did not create the problem.  Also, what you perceive as a lack of effort by those sounding the alarm to do anything to stop the problem, is not the reason for the problem.  The warning sees the inexorable progress of the dismissive on the path toward destruction, and warns them.  As dismissive, cynical people, however, you will do everything in your would-be "power" to find a scapegoat, someone to blame for your own unwillingness to consider the possibility that GOD IS REAL, SIN IS THE MISSING LINK, and HELL IS DRAWING NEAR.  The degree to which you understand that your only scapegoat is yourself, is the degree to which there is still hope that your soul will be saved.  Most of you won't make it.

But many of you will.

Is the eclipse next week a warning, or nothing more than an astronomical event?  Is it a literal "X" drawn by God over the United States?  Was the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge an accident, or a terrorist attack?  Was Building 7 taken down by Muslims?  Does Freemasonry rule the world?  Is Michelle Obama actually a man?

I have my opinions, all of which are, in my opinion, true.  I will say this.  God told me to leave the U.S.  "Remember Lot's wife" is a phrase that has been drilled into the forefront of my consciousness over the last year or so.  I've also seen my share of bad omens, and believe that it is best to err on the side of caution.  Don't dismiss any unpleasant, life-unaffirming possibilities.  Tread lightly on the path to perdition, amigos.

Videos like this keep me on track.

The Cat Lady is a short film made in 1969 by Tom Chomont.  "Road Island" is from my album Love is Wasted, my last studio album to date.  Released 7 years ago this week, in fact.  Unless God has other plans, I don't expect to ever make another one.  Because, indeed, love is wasted.  Talk about cynical.  But is it?  Is love wasted?  In postmodern Babylon, the question isn't whether or not love is wasted, the question is, how is it wasted?  Is it wasted in the sense of being mis-spent, to the point that it is considered disposable, like a greasy bag to hold our genetically-modified, fast-food emotions?

Or is it wasted as in, intoxicated?

Perhaps, as has always been the case for me (though I never considered it disposable), it is a little bit of both.

Thanks for listening.